Former Marine catches bank robber in Anchorage

Posted: January 20, 2013 - 1:11am

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANCHORAGE — A 22-year-old man who just finished serving four years in the U.S. Marine Corps was able to track down an alleged bank robber and flag down a police cruiser, helping land the suspect in jail.

Merrill Lake was walking by a Key Bank Branch Wednesday when he first noticed a woman banging hysterically on the window. The bank had just been robbed by a hammer-wielding man, The Anchorage Daily News reported Saturday.

The FBI said the robber was 61-year-old Alan Bronson Rice.

Rice had been the only customer in the bank when a teller offered to help him at her window. He walked up and placed his bag on the floor. Then he removed the hammer and set it on the counter, the charges said.

Rice started jogging, he said. Lake ran after him, but didn’t know if the man was carrying a weapon.

Rice asked Lake to follow him to the bus station, where he would explain everything. He had simply overdrawn on his bank account, Rice told him. At some point in the encounter, Rice asked Lake if he was making a citizen’s arrest.

“I told him right then and there, ‘Sir, I’m a U.S. Marine. You need to turn around and go back to the bank,’” Lake said.